


Table for Two

by flipflop_diva



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started as a simple lunch date, but along the way, a friendship was born. Set post-CA: TWS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Table for Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



The first time he showed up and asked her if she maybe wanted to grab lunch, she figured it was just loneliness or uncertainty. After all, she could relate to that. She might have had a back-up plan, which she acted on right away, but that didn’t mean the fall of SHIELD was any less hard on her than the others. She had been right there with Fury for all of it. If he knew secrets, she knew secrets. 

And then in the span of forty-eight hours, it was gone.

She was lucky she had a backup plan to pass the time until Coulson could build SHIELD back up and bring her back in.

But of course she couldn’t tell that to Steve. Sometimes top-level secrets had to stay top-level, even when there was no real agency to guard them. 

She did understand his frustration, though, and she couldn’t imagine how it would feel to just be getting used to one world and then have it knocked away. Not to mention the whole thing about Bucky.

She knew he and Sam were hunting — unsuccessfully — for Bucky, but Sam hadn’t been part of SHIELD, only the downfall of it, and Natasha had disappeared, back into the void to regain her anonymity. 

So the first time he showed up at Stark Industries and asked her to lunch, Maria figured it was all of that, and he just wanted someone to talk to who maybe understood.

Heck, she needed that, too, so she said yes. And they did spend a lot of time catching up. Neither ever mentioned SHIELD, but it hung over both their heads and all their words.

The second time he asked her to lunch — a mere week after the first time — she figured it was more of the same. And again, she was okay with that. She liked knowing what was going on with everyone — and would even if Tony hadn’t insisted they track them all because he was sure danger was going to come looking for them soon enough — and Steve knew more than he let on.

And it was easy to sit there and talk with him. She never had to worry about him lying to her or leading her on or even wanting more than just to talk. 

But the third time he showed up unexpectedly and asked her to lunch — four days after the second time — she frowned at him and shook her head.

“What are you doing, Steve?”

He looked confused. “Seeing if you wanted to have lunch?”

“Why?”

“You don’t eat?”

“No, I definitely eat. But New York City and D.C. aren’t exactly down the street from each other, and I thought you were working on leads about Bucky.”

“I am.”

“Okay, then.” Maria crossed her arms and waited. Steve had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, and he just stared back at her for a few moments before shrugging.

“Maybe I could use a friend right now,” he said, and his voice was so earnest she knew he was telling her the truth.

“And you don’t have friends in D.C.?”

Another shrug. “Not really.”

“Not even Sam?”

“No, Sam’s a friend. We just … spend a lot of time together and it’s good to get away, you know. Get a fresh perspective.”

“There are no other fresh perspectives?”

Steve shrugged. “Maybe I miss having a woman around.”

Maria smiled at that. “Natasha will come back. She always does.”

Steve nodded. “I know. But can I buy you lunch anyway? I have nothing but honest intentions, I promise.”

Maria pretended to ponder that for a second, but she really didn’t need to. She knew what her answer would be.

“How could I possibly refuse?” she said.

Soon enough, it became a ritual. Every few days, Steve would show up around lunch time and check to make sure she was free. And every time she would pretend to check her schedule and tell him she could push a few things around.

They made it into an adventure, trying out different restaurants in the city, some recommended by Tony (way too over-the-top), some by Pepper (sometimes a little stuffy but much better) and some holes in the wall she remembered from her years with Fury. Those were always the best, and the ones they appreciated the most.

They talked a lot too, opening up more and more with each other as the weeks went on. She told him the real reason she joined Stark Industries (careful to leave Coulson’s name out of it — that was not her secret to tell — but giving him the big picture nonetheless) and told him how much she missed her old life. He told her how hard it had been to adjust to modern times and how he still wasn’t sure he ever would.

He told her about growing up in the forties. She told him about growing up in the eighties. He told her about the dates people kept trying to set him up on and she (jokingly) gave him a few suggestions of her own.

He told her he worried he would never fit into this world. She told him he already did.

Soon enough, Steve’s visits were the highlights of her week, and she knew it was the same for him, too, even if he didn’t say it in that many words. She had never thought she could let anyone into her inner circle like she was letting him in — Fury had been the closest she had been to anyone and even that had been built on and secrets and deception — but this was different. 

This was real and natural and …

“And I think this is probably what real friendship feel likes,” she said to him one Friday afternoon about three months after their lunch dates had begun. They were at a Thai restaurant Pepper had insisted they try.

Steve put down his bite of curry and looked at her, a strange expression in his eyes.

“I thought you would have had lots of friends.”

“Not real ones. Not really.”

He thought about that. “I haven’t had a real friend in awhile,” he said.

“Well, then,” Maria said, and she picked up her glass. “To real friends.”

“Yes,” Steve said. “To real friends.


End file.
